Object Details

Title:

Artist/Maker:

Culture:

French

Place:

Saint-Cloud France Paris France (Place created)

Date:

porcelain about 1715 - 1720; silver mounts modern ?

Medium:

Soft-paste porcelain underglaze blue decoration and silver

Markings:

Markings: Each silver mount of the ewer has a fleur-de-lys without a crown (the Paris discharge mark for small silver works used between October 23, 1717, and May 5, 1722) and an indistinct mark.
Label: The base of the ewer bears a paper label "5.L. 4338.8" and "Charles E. Dunlap."

Department:

Sculpture & Decorative Arts

Classification:

Decorative Arts

Object Type:

Ewer and basin

Object Number:

88.DI.112

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Decorated with a finely painted pattern of blue lambrequins, the ewer and basin would have sat on a dressing table to be used for washing in a bedroom or chambre de toilette. The motifs were influenced by the engravings of Jean Bérain, chief designer to Louis XIV. The simple silver mounts, made in Paris around 1720 and decorated with gadrooning, are a rare addition.

These vessels were produced at Saint-Cloud, the first major manufactory in France to make soft-paste porcelain, part of Europe's attempts to imitate genuine Chinese or Japanese porcelain. The factory's success lay in its ability to produce attractive and reasonably priced alternatives to metalwork or true porcelain.